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Look at BJ or Bourn in CF and I would see if we could get Youkilis on a bounce back/pillow contract. I really like Prado in LF

Bourn
Prado
Heyward
Youkilis
Uggla
Freeman
Mac
Simmons

I think we should let Mac walk.. He's most likely to be hurt for pretty much all of the offseason after he gets this shoulder surgery, and he was just horrible this year. I think that $12 million option is just too much of a gamble, so I'd rather see Bethancourt get his shot. Christian's hitting would be really, really bad in the majors next year, but his defense would be alright. Maybe if we don't think he's MLB ready, we could sign someone like AJ Pierzynski to a 2 year/15 million dollar deal, just to give Bethancourt some more time in the minors.

I think we should let Mac walk.. He's most likely to be hurt for pretty much all of the offseason after he gets this shoulder surgery, and he was just horrible this year. I think that $12 million option is just too much of a gamble, so I'd rather see Bethancourt get his shot. Christian's hitting would be really, really bad in the majors next year, but his defense would be alright. Maybe if we don't think he's MLB ready, we could sign someone like AJ Pierzynski to a 2 year/15 million dollar deal, just to give Bethancourt some more time in the minors.

Or you could keep Bethancourt in the Minors and split the catching duties between Ross and Gattis? Just an idea.

Sgt DevildogUSMCIts Not A Religion its a Faith... Semper FiBraves Fan For Life!

I think we should let Mac walk.. He's most likely to be hurt for pretty much all of the offseason after he gets this shoulder surgery, and he was just horrible this year. I think that $12 million option is just too much of a gamble, so I'd rather see Bethancourt get his shot. Christian's hitting would be really, really bad in the majors next year, but his defense would be alright. Maybe if we don't think he's MLB ready, we could sign someone like AJ Pierzynski to a 2 year/15 million dollar deal, just to give Bethancourt some more time in the minors.

he was playing injured all season. it woulda been better, imo, if he had surgery earlier. but i think hat's why he 'sucked,' not because he lost ability or something.

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If the Braves let McCann walk I will be fine with that. Gives us more money to go after other positions.

We should definitely let Bourn walk too. Not wanting to pay him $15M or more a year and taking that first rounder will be fine by me. It will suck, but I think it has to be done. Getting BJ Upton to play CF might be an option depending on how much he wants.

If the Braves let McCann walk I will be fine with that. Gives us more money to go after other positions.

We should definitely let Bourn walk too. Not wanting to pay him $15M or more a year and taking that first rounder will be fine by me. It will suck, but I think it has to be done. Getting BJ Upton to play CF might be an option depending on how much he wants.

ATLANTA — Item by item, Chipper Jones’ shirts and pants were folded and stacked neatly for the final time in his Braves travel bag.

His teammates also went through the familiar routine of cleaning out lockers Saturday. Jones is taking more than his clothes: The team gave the third baseman the entire locker as a retirement gift.

A likely future Hall of Famer, Jones will be difficult to replace. The Braves also could lose centerfielder and leadoff hitter Michael Bourn, who can become a free agent.

“This is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be when I thought about it five years ago,” the 40-year-old Jones said. “That lets me know I’m ready.”

General manager Frank Wren said with other parts of the team in place, he’ll be able to focus on third base and center.

“I’m looking forward to it, because I think there’s a narrower focus of what we need,” Wren said Saturday. “We’ve got a lot of good young players in place and we’ve got to determine what we do in centerfield, and that kind of couples with leadoff, and we’ve got to determine how we replace Chipper. Beyond that, our club is pretty solid. So it’s a pretty narrow focus.”

Atlanta’s season ended with Friday’s 6-3 wild-card loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wren, manager Fredi Gonzalez and the players all talked Saturday about the disputed infield fly call in the eighth inning. There also was much regret about the Braves’ three errors, one by Jones.

“The way we lost yesterday was never in my mind, and I’m not even talking about the ruling,” Gonzalez said. “I’m just talking about the way we handled the baseball. We’ve been so good for two years playing defense.”

Jones was 1-for-5 with a throwing error.

“Had I had a better game, I probably would have accepted it a little bit better,” Jones said. “I’m a little disappointed in myself for the game that I played.”

Jones plans to visit the Braves in spring training, but not to coach.

“I’m not going to be a mainstay down there,” he said. “I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes.”

Jones’ retirement clears $13 million from the Braves’ payroll. If the team can’t re-sign Bourn, Wren will have about $20 million to spend elsewhere.

“I think the Braves need some pieces, but I think Frank will have fun playing with all the money,” Jones said with a smile.

Re-signing Bourn will not be easy. Wren said he was unsuccessful in his attempts to open negotiations in spring training with Bourn’s agent, Scott Boras.

“They said they would prefer to wait until after the season,” Wren said. “So we made it clear to Michael that we want him back, that we’d love to have him back. But we also know there’s a process in place.”

Bourn, who hit .274 with 42 stolen bases, had an $6,845,000 base salary this season and earned a $50,000 bonus for making the NL All-Star team.

Wren said he’ll be a serious offseason shopper.

“We’re going to be looking for premium players, I think there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “We’re losing one Hall of Fame player and the salary that goes with that Hall of Fame player, and we’re going to be looking to replace him. And as we do that, it gives us the opportunity to add another big player.”

Atlanta’s moves could come in in trades.

“There are not a lot of pieces out there in the free-agent market this year that are all that appealing,” Wren said. “We may have to look other places.”

Left fielder Martin Prado and Juan Francisco are possible replacements for Jones. Prado, a former All-Star second baseman, backed up Jones at third base and even filled in at shortstop this season.

Francisco hit .234 with nine homers in 192 at-bats. He could provide more power than Prado, a stronger defensive player who hit .301 with 10 homers, 70 RBIs and 17 steals.

Wren said the “ideal position” for Prado would be in the infield, but he noted that would leave an opening in left.

“You don’t necessarily get to go out on the market and get the perfect guy for your team,” he said. “We’ll have to see how that goes.”

Wren said the Braves have a “dynamic young core” of players, including right fielder Jason Heyward, first baseman Freddie Freeman and shortstop Andrelton Simmons.

Their rotation was bolstered by left-hander Mike Minor’s strong second half and the emergence of Kris Medlen. Closer Craig Kimbrel heads a strong bullpen.

“Our bullpen is intact,” Wren said. “Our starting rotation is intact. There are a lot of things that are real positive going into next year, and I think guys are going to get better. I’m very, very optimistic about where we sit as a franchise with the thought of adding a couple of key pieces.”

Ross will be 36 years old for the 2013 season, he's a backup catcher that always get exposed when he plays for an extended period of time. Gattis is an unproven player which defense at the play is very questionable and we don't know how his bat will respond in the bigs, we need to have in mind that he lost plenty of time this season because of injury.

Someone else mentioned AJ Pierzynski, he is 35 years old, and he hit 27 homers this year, that's a complete fluke, he hit a combined 30 homers in the 3 years before this one. It's impossible that after 35 years he will become the player he has never been. And also he sucks at defense, even worse than McCann. McCann brings lot of upside and is only a 1 year deal.

Bethancourt bat is nowhere near ready for the big league, his glove is great but if you see the numbers he has put in the minors probably his bat will be Jack Wilson esque. He needs more time in the minor, two more years IMO.